Today, let’s talk computing hardware. Nothing happens in a computing device without the CPU. Oh, I know – another techie acronym. CPU stands for Central Processing Unit. For short, we just call it the processor. Please note that people sometimes refer to the tower of their computer as the CPU but that is incorrect. The tower contains the motherboard, hard drive, DVD unit and possibly other hardware pieces. The processor is in the tower but is only one of the hardware components contained therein.
There are a number of companies which make processors. For desktop and laptop computers, the two largest manufacturers (by far) are Intel and AMD. Both of these companies have a variety of processor models. In the next few blog posts, we’re going to look at some of the product information regarding processors. We’ll explain cores, threads and lots more. But, for today, we want to talk about generations.
Why Do I Want To Know This?
In case you’re wondering why you’d want to know anything about processors – it’s simple. The next time you purchase a computing device, I want you to choose what you’re going to buy based on what’s inside and not on price alone. (Buying based on price alone is almost always a mistake.)
One of the computing specifications which is not usually listed at a retail store is the generation of the processor. Some processor models are here for one time/one year and then gone. But, many models continue for years. Rather than change the model number of a processor, manufacturers will simply change the generation number. Generations usually change every year or so. There can be minor changes between generations or there can be pretty significant changes.
Let me give you an example: one day, a customer called me from one of the big box stores. He told me that he was looking at buying a laptop that was on sale at an excellent price. (The price was excellent. I couldn’t have matched the price.) He was calling for my advice. I asked him what model he was eyeing. Looking up the model number he told me, I discovered that it used a 4th generation Intel i5 processor. At the time, the most current generation was the 7th generation. That meant that the laptop, although new, had a four-year-old processor installed and was missing three years of processor improvements. Once I relayed this information to my customer, he left the big box store and purchased a computer from me.
Again, some processors are once and gone. But, for those where the generation number changes instead of the model number, it’s important to know which one you’re looking to purchase. Most big box store employees can’t give you this information because it’s not on their spec sheets. We, however, can always get you that information.
Just an FYI: Intel’s latest generation is the 9th generation although it is difficult to find any computers with it. Most computers still use the 8th generation processor. AMD processors are the 7th generation.